About CIMCO - The Cold Specialist

Canadian Ice Machine Co. Ltd. (the forerunner of CIMCO) was originally founded in 1913 as a Limited Corporation. We changed our name to CIMCO Limited in 1967. In 1969 CIMCO was purchased by Toromont Industries Ltd., a public Canadian company with shares trading on the T.S.E.

Affiliated Toromont companies:


CIMCO Refrigeration maintains its Head Office and main manufacturing plant in Toronto, Ontario. In addition to its Head Office, CIMCO maintains sales and service offices in every major city in Canada. Secondary assembly plants are located in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and Edmonton, Alberta.

Historical Notes
When CIMCO was founded in 1913 as The Canadian Ice Machine Company, the refrigeration technologies that we take for granted today had only recently been developed. In fact, CIMCO抯 chief competition of the time was natural ice harvested from local lakes and rivers. However CIMCO founder, Tom Shipley, recognized that ice for home iceboxes could be provided year round at a lower cost with the use of the newly available refrigeration equipment. So using equipment supplied by his original firm, The Shipley Company of Brooklyn, New York, he began servicing the refrigeration needs of Canadians. The company continued to be managed by the Shipley family until 1969 when Tom抯 son, Howard Shipley, sold the business to Toromont.

Today, CIMCO employs over 480 people in various key locations across North America and around the world. We are the largest industrial refrigeration company in Canada, and in conjunction with Toromont Process Systems, the leading company in North America specializing in low temperature refrigeration.

IMPORTANT DATES:

  • 1913 - CIMCO (The Canadian Ice Machine Company) was founded
  • 1967 - The Canadian Ice Machine Company was renamed CIMCO
  • 1969 - CIMCO was purchased by Toromont Industries
  • 1972 - Toromont purchased Lewis Refrigeration, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah
  • 1996 - CIMCO and Lewis merged offices
  • 2003 - CIMCO opened an office in Beijing, China
  • 2005 - CIMCO opened offices in Moscow, Russia and Zurich, Switzerland